Across Time
by Pinklily8
Summary: The cycle of the goddess, the hero, and the villain goes on, endless. Emperor Zelda has made her own empire from the world around her and she hardly cares for the way the legend is supposed to go-she has carved her own path. Her views, however, are shaken when she meets with a criminal that wants her dead.


Zelda found there was something distinctly disconcerting about having someone make an attempt on her life.

In fact, her stomach was churning so riotously that she considering giving up her current task. After all, she was the queen. She _did not_ have to answer a mere criminal's summoning. But he wasn't just a mere criminal-he was a man who had found some reason to come kill her in the dead of night. She was unsatable in her curiosity; she had to know why.

Regardless of what her reasons were, she forged on, nodding to her guards as she went past them, deep into the bowels of the dungeons. The Queen passed several cells filled with lesser thieves, vagrants, and gang lords. She strode past them, barely acknowledging those below her, her only reaction being a slight raise to the corner of her mouth in triumph. She had assured herself as the leader of the most well organized Empire in all of recorded history. Hyrule flourished under her hand and she intended to keep it that way.

As she was nearing her destination, a more daring prisoner crashed into his jail bars, attempting to startle her. Unaffected, she stopped and fixed her gaze on him until he retreated, cowed by her icy glare.

On she descended, to a place rarely patrolled by guards-only executioners and interrogators. The world grew quiet around her until all she could her was the sounds made by herself. The air felt thick and ominous, tasting of stone that had never seen the light of the sun. Finally, she reached her destination. Here, the cells had individual doors and as she reached for her key, she stopped herself, suddenly having second thoughts.

It had only been a week since the incident, where, in the dead of night, a cloaked figure had snuck his way into the castle and to her rooms. There, he had raised a long knife to strike into her heart.

She slowly turned the key, the lock making no noise. Her hand hoovered above the handle, deliberating. Why, she thought, was she honoring his demand so quickly? Such a specific request-

 _"_ _I will only speak to the Queen herself. Alone."_

Zelda wondered if she should've let him wait for a month or two, a year, even. She was the ruler of the land...but she had to know. From the moment that she had awoken to her guards wrestling with a man who seemed to be twice their strength, which took five trained soldiers to force his arms behind his back-she knew that she would have to talk to this man. The man with blue eyes that burned like fire on the water.

Because when she had looked at him-she hadn't see hate or destruction. All that laid there was questioning; asking her something with his mind.

Standing before the door, she exhaled her nerves and pushed the door open.

Inside, the only light came from a solitary, sputtering torch. The prisoner was chained to the back wall by a manacles around his stomach and ones securing his wrists behind his back. He was kneeling, head bowed-almost like he was praying. His torso was bare and he had on a pair of brown trousers. His tan skin was pale from spending time under ground, along with his fair hair that looked almost white in the lighting.

She walked forward, hands firmly stationed at her sides.

He shifted only slightly, bringing his head up, squinting, as if he had not looked up from the floor in a long time. He was surprisingly handsome, Zelda noted. Muscular too; it was no wonder that he had bested so many of her knights before finally being taken down.

They considered each other for a minute before the criminal spoke, voice raw from disuse.

"Ah, so you came. You're just as prideful as I thought."

His flippant words set off a small flare of anger in her chest, but she kept her face set in a stony expression.

"I am not afraid of you, if that is what you are implying."

The corner of his mouth lifted into a half-smirk.

"Are you so sure? You stand here because of me."

Zelda stared at him coldly, offering a thin smile back to mock him.

"Actually, you're here because of me. My guards stopped you-"

He interrupted her, letting out a manic laugh, tilting his head to face her full on, spreading his broad shoulders imposingly. She squashed a flash of intimidation deep down.

"You think it was the guards who saved you, huh?" his face shined with a strange triumph, "Fool," he hissed as the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom took a minute step back, affronted by the accusation.

He grinned darkly, teeth catching in the low light, "There was never a doubt that you would live. I stopped myself."

She narrowed her eyes and let out a sharp laugh to cover how uncomfortable he made her feel.

"Ah, so your conscience got the better of you? A bit late to find it while in the motion of the task."

He shook his head, causing a crease to appear in her brow.

"I knew that I couldn't do it from the moment I set off."

She glared at him full on, wanting to watch him break, bend to her will and control. "You lie. No one would logically choose to go out to commit a crime that they weren't willing to finish."

He smiled, taunting her with his self-assuredness.

"Face the fact that you don't have a hold on everything, milady. You can control everyone out there but you can't control me. Just because you've made laws that demand obedience from people doesn't make the world yours to toy with. Do you ever go out to ask the will of your citizens? Have you ever considered that maybe your way isn't the best?"

His words snapped her patients and she snarled, towering over him, "This is _my_ world now, you hear? There is order, and balance. My people are safe and given every chance for a happy life. Perhaps some sacrifices have been made, but all for the betterment of Hyrule and the surrounding countries. I have made an Empire that will last for ages."

Zelda and the criminal had a stare off before he looked to the ground, downcast. With satisfaction curling under her skin, the Queen began for the door, assured of her victory.

"You're not like them," he whispered to the frozen air.

She turned to fix him with a glare, annoyed that he was trying to have the last word, and spoke with a tongue laced with poison, "Oh? Not like whom?"

He let out a quiet sigh, looking at her with tired blue eyes. "The other Zeldas. You aren't like them."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"The other reincarnations," he said simply, "were always so much more gentle. Humbled from their experiences. Kind to all and never self-serving."

"Excuse me?" she growled, balling up her fists, "I am everything that a reincarnation of Lady Hylia should be. My power is strong," she smirked while holding up her hand, letting the power of the goddesses shine through, emblazoning through her glove the mark of the Triforce. He only stared straight ahead, almost looking bored. She frowned, but forged on, "Ganon dare not show his face because of me. The others were weak-" Zelda stopped herself, his words catching up with her.

"How would you know? You're no one of importance."

Silence. Then-

The man started to laugh, low and quiet. His head was downwards, shrouding his face in shadows.

"Really?" he asked, sounding amused.

And then, without warning, a bright light emanated from behind the man. She watched in horror as he pulled his hands forward, the chain links staining against the pressure.

 _SNAP!_

The sound echoed in her pointed ears as he brought his now free left hand in front of his face, brandishing the symbol of the goddesses.

Zelda tried to imagine the triangle on the top to be illuminated, but it was to no avail-the light was coming from the bottom right of his hand.

Courage-the reincarnation of the Hero, right before her eyes.

 _He had tried to kill her._

For the first time in her life since she was a small child, Zelda cried out in fear, somewhere between disbelief and terror.

"W-who are you?"

The man let out a bitter chuckle, lowering his hand, "So now I'm important. I see."

Zelda wanted to back herself against the wall, to escape or otherwise, but some sick fascination kept her in place.

The golden mark on his hand faded, making his sudden power surge a memory. If it wasn't for the snapped chain, she might not of believed what she had just seen.

He captured her with his intense gaze, forcing her to focus completely on him.

Finally, he began to speak, weaving a tale like she had not ever known.

"I came from a small nomadic tribe in the east. My grandmother was a gifted fortune teller, and since I inherited her talents, I became her apprentice. At first, my life was easy going, but one day a group of moblins attacked our wagons and I had to take up arms to protect my family. The spirit of the hero awakened in me-and along with my foresight-the two sides of my nature made me see back into my past lives experiences. Every moment was punctuated with visions. All I could think of was the role that I was designated to fulfill."

Zelda opened her mouth to say something, but she was unsure of what to say. He inhaled deliberately, his face pained.

"Over time I learned to suppress the more part of these memories. But I was still stuck in an endless state of restlessness. The day that I was going to tell my grandmother that I needed to leave to find myself, a patrol of Hylian soldiers came to our sector and demanded that we join with them in accordance to _your_ proclamation to bring all Hylians to the urbanized Hyrule. Some went along with them, but many of us didn't want to leave our way of life. They said that they were to force us along with them," his eyes burned, rimmed red, "my sister, stubborn as she was, sat down and refused. They chained her to a tree and said that if she loved the place so much that she could live the last of her days there. My grandmother stayed with her and made me promise to leave and lead the tribe to this new way of life. I've only heard from them once since then."

Zelda furrowed her brow, at a loss, "That's not...that's not how I imagined the inward migration went."

"Maybe not," he agreed, rubbing his scraped wrists, "but that's similar to what happened all over the continent according to the others that I've talked with."

Zelda found herself walking to him, one of her knees buckling as she bent to face him, now eye to eye, it was not hard to think of him as her equal.

"Why come here-why like you did?"

He shrugged, refusing to break eye contact.

"I was angry and frustrated with the government. I wasn't sure what I was going to do-however, when I heard about you, about a Zelda of our time, I couldn't handle it. Every primal and precoded sense in me told me to find you. I _had_ to. But I was still mad at the way I was forced to feel and I found the harshest way to rebel against the spirit of the Hero."

"You tried to kill me," she murmured, oddly entranced by his story. She'd never, in all of her historic research, ever read of a Hero that didn't want his mantle.

After a moment he nodded slightly.

"Yes," he said hoarsely, "But I realized that it more because I wanted to see you...I couldn't-I couldn't ever have actually hurt you. Never." His eyes flickered as he stared at her, seeming to drink her in.

Zelda felt an strange sense of understanding of his statement, although she knew not exactly why.

She voiced her confusion, "But if you were so upset why not just end your suffering by taking my life-"

She was cut off suddenly as he grabbed her, his strength easily overshadowing her own, and she could only gasp as his fingers gripped her shoulder, holding her close to his chest, his lips pressed to her ear. He smelled of wild pine and the rare Silent Princess flower which she had only seen once in her life, as if his body did not exude stench of a prisoner but instead his inner nature. He shuddered in time with her.

"Do you have any idea how many voices are in my head? All of them scream at me when I see you or so much as think of you. _Serve_ the goddess, _love_ her, _protect_ her," his words shook with some indescribable emotion, the harsh tone causing her heart to thump against her chest so violently she could hardly breathe, which only got worse as he drew her closer, bringing his face to her neck, pressing rough and sweet kisses against her throat. His hands moved to her lower back, pulling her closer.

She felt dizzy, only aware of the trills of warm pleasure that shivered down her spine. She wasn't sure how long they stayed there, him finding every inch of the skin above her collarbones, but eventually, to her concurrent relief and displeasure, he pressed one last kiss to her lips that she unconsciously returned, barely able to see straight.

His hands loosened but his voice grew more intense, "There is no decision for me; all that is left is insanity and turmoil."

He released her suddenly, his face drained of all emotion, leaving her to attempt to catch hold of herself, kneeling before him.

His voice was cold now as he spoke, "The Hero will always be the servant to Hylia. This is my duty and my descendants duty. Can you blame me for trying to rebel against the grain of fate? So many of them died for you! With all that I've seen, I just feel like a puppet on a string. They, at least, got a Princess that cared for them and the Kingdom, and I," he sneered, "got you."

His entire speech was an insult, but he seemed unable to keep up his unkind expression when he looked at her pale face. He placed an unbelievably gentle hand on her cheek.

His voice was a sacred whisper, "Do you realize that I would do anything for you? In a heart beat. Not a thought."

Her breath turned ragged against her will.

"Please," she muttered, holding her head in her hands, "stop tormenting me-I didn't mean-I thought-I'm sorry-just stop. I can't stand it anymore."

His hand slipped from her face, his blue eyes glowing in the darkness, with that same fire that had first drawn her to him that first night, "Anything for you, _my Grace._ "

At that, she rose haltingly, turned backwards and ran.

.-.-.-.

Queen Zelda stumbled out of the dungeons and barely manged to catch herself on her hands and knees. Instantly, the General of the Hyrulian army raced to her side.

"Your Grace! Are you alright?"

"That man-you must release him. Get him out of the castle at once."

The powerful man stiffened, unbelieving.

"Surely you must be mistaken, that man tried to kill you in your sleep! His sentence is for life or death."

Her breath came in short pants, trembling.

"I pardon him," she whispered as he gave her an incredulous look. Irritated by his dumbfounded silence, she snapped her head up to face him.

"I pardon him," the Queen snarled, daring him to question her authority again.

He stood up straight, alarmed by her dangerous tone. He assented, "Y-yes your Highness, as you wish. But I'm afraid I don't understand why you would want such a dangerous man back on the streets."

He helped her back to her unsteady feet while she shook her head deliriously.

"He is only dangerous to me. No one else. He is worst off here. I don't care where he goes-just far away in a wild sector."

Zelda caught his eye, noting the look that made her sure that he thought that she had lost her mind.

Maybe she had.

So she continued, making her voice steel, removing her hand from his arm-she would stand without aid. "I can't live with him under my feet nor can I live with his death at our hands. Link is to be gone by tomorrow morning." With finality, she began walking, standing taller than ever-appearing proud although she was weak.

"You learned his name?"

The phrase gave her pause and she turned her head only, speaking with a voice of brittle crystallized anger.

"Does it matter? Your only worry is to obey me, General."

The Emperor Queen hardly heard his apology as she ascended a nearby staircase, fixated on getting to her chambers. All the while, Link's voice fractured her mind.

 _Do you ever go out to ask the will of your citizens?_

 _You stand here because of me._

 _You're not like them._

Her hands shook as she entered her bedroom, sliding to the floor. Bitter feelings began dripping down her face. How dare he accuse her of not being good enough! What could he possibly know of running such a large Empire? Zelda shook her head wildly, trying to cleanse herself of him. Yet, in her mind's eye, she could she him now, unaware of his coming freedom-her freedom from the way he had made her feel as he had caressed her skin. Strikingly handsome, full of moral notions. The only person who had ever had enough courage to stand up to her and place her before her flaws.

And, inexplicably, deep in her chest, her heart began to ache. Calling for a home that was not hers-not for this lifetime.

.-.-.-.

 **AN: Hope you liked this entry to the Zelda universe. Not the happiest outlook, but captures the frustration that might come from being stuck in an endless loop.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **-Pinklily8**


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